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2016.12.1219-12.25
A Life-ministering Service
Service for Building Up the Church #8
I. As believers in Christ and children of God, we not only have eternal
life and may experience eternal life, but we can minister this life to other members of the
神に仕える
Body of Christ.
1 John 5:16 If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin not unto death, he shall ask and he will give life to him, to those sinning not unto death. There is a sin unto
death; I do not say that he should make request concerning that.
II. To minister life is to impart life; when we have a surplus of life, we can minister from this supply to others.
1. If we merely handle business affairs or manage matters but do not supply others with the life of God, our service is a
failure and is vain.
2. No matter what our service may be, we should be clear that our service is a means to supply life to others.
A. The church
service is to
3. If the church were only for taking care of matters, not supplying life, the church would lose its nature and would be a
supply life, for it society.
III. The service is a service of
4. We must serve in such a way that others may receive the supply of life; we need to be deeply impressed with this point
for the building life:
and look to the Lord so that our service becomes an outlet for His life. John 10:10 The thief does not come except to steal
up of the house
and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life and may have it abundantly. 11:25 Jesus said to her, I am the
of God is a
resurrection and the life; he who believes into Me, even if he should die, shall live.
life-ministering
B. The life that we supply to others is in the Spirit, the 1. If we would supply the saints with life, we must release our spirit, for the divine life is
service — a
Spirit is mingled with our spirit, and the life of God is in our mingled spirit.
service of
located, abides, and grows in the mingled spirit:
2. If our spirit cannot be released, the divine life has no way to be released.
supplying
1. Christians speak of being good, which involves moral character, good deeds, and good behavior, not of the divine life in the
others with the
Word of God.
C. We need to
divine life.
see the
2. In order not to hinder others from receiving the a. We may be irreproachable and commendable in our service yet
distinction
divine life, we must do good deeds and have good express merely good character, perfection, and human virtues, but
between life and moral character; however, good deeds and moral these are not the life of God.
moral character: character do not necessarily mean that the life of b. Whenever others touch us rather than Christ in us, they touch death
God is expressed through us:
and not life.
1. The service that God wants from us does not focus on doing a. The center and focus of the service of
a work but on ministering life:
the saints and of the church are not to
IV. As serving ones, we need to be
1
John
5:16
If
anyone
sees
his
brother
sinning
a
sin
not
unto
build up an enterprise or work but to
A.
The
service
deeply impressed with the
death, he shall ask and he will give life to him, to those sinning minister life.
necessity of being able to minister that is from
not unto death. There is a sin unto death; I do not say that he b. God’s desire is that the emphasis of our
God requires
life:
us to minister should make request concerning that.
service be on ministering life instead of
1 John 5:11 And this is the
life
to
others:
producing a work or enterprise.
testimony, that God gave to us
eternal life and this life is in His
2. The only standard of measurement is how much the church has ministered God’s life to others and how
Son.
much element of the divine life has entered into others through the church’s service.
12 He who has the Son has the
B. Bearing fruit is to minister life, that is, to release the supply of the vine’s life.
life; he who does not have the Son
of God does not have the life.
13 I have written these things to
you that you may know that you
have eternal life, to you who
believe into the name of the Son
of God.
C. In order to minister life to others, we need to be joined to Christ, abide in Christ, and give Him the ground in us to fill us so
that His life, His nature, His likes, and His inclination become our life, our nature, our likes, and our inclination; in our service
His all becomes our all.
D. May God have mercy on us that all our service and work would be from Him, would come out of our fellowship with Him,
and would be able to overflow with Him and His life as a supply to others.
Psa. 36:8 They are saturated with the fatness of Your house, And You cause them to drink of the river of Your pleasures. 9 For
with You is the fountain of life; In Your light we see light.
E. We must always remember that the service of the church is God’s flowing out to supply others with the divine life.
A. Life is the content of God and the flowing out of God; God’s content is God’s being, and God’s flowing out is the impartation of Himself as life
to us.
B. In order for life to be released 1. If our outer man is not broken, there cannot be a pure flow of the divine life.
from our spirit, our outer man must 2. If we want the divine life to be released from within us, we must be subdued in our soul and let our spirit
be dealt with and broken:
dominate and rule over every matter; then the Lord’s life will be able to flow out.
C. Having the outflow of life requires that we be with Christ in His 1. When we identify ourselves with the smitten Christ, that is, when we are
V. To minister is
life-releasing death; this is to be identified with the smitten Christ, one with Him as the smitten Christ, the divine life as the living water flows out
to have the
typified by the smitten rock:
of us.
outflow of life:
John 19:34 But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, 2. Our human life, our natural life, must be smitten so that the living water
and immediately there came out blood and water.
may flow out from within us.
Exo. 17:6 I will be standing before you there upon the rock in 3. If we are one with the smitten Christ, identified with Him, we will experience
Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water will come out the crucifixion of our natural life, and then just as Christ’s divine life flowed out
of it so that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the as living water through the smiting of His human life, we also will experience the
sight of the elders of Israel.
flow of the water of life through the smiting of our natural life.
VI. If we would minister life to
A. From Eden onwards, God’s controversy with Satan has been on the issue of life and death.
others, we need to be aware of
B. What is of God is characterized by life, and what is of Satan, by death; in the church everything that issues from God is life,
the attack upon the church by
and everything that issues from Satan is death.
death:
C. The attack upon the church will come from death, from the gates of Hades.
Rom. 5:17 For if by the offense of
Matt. 16:18 And I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall
the one death reigned through the not prevail against it.
one, much more those who
D. Satan’s greatest fear with regard to the church is her resistance to his power of death.
receive the abundance of grace
E. The eternal life within us can overcome death both in ourselves and in other members of the church.
and of the gift of righteousness
F. We need to experience and enjoy the eternal life within us, and we need to minister this life to others by being a channel
will reign in life through the One,
through which eternal life can flow.
Jesus Christ.
G. God intends for the church to manifest the life of Christ; hence, the church must be full of life, and our service in the
church must minister life.
Experience
①Every service, whether preaching the gospel, giving messages, managing
business affairs, or visitation, that is, whether the service is spiritual or
administrative, should be a means of us to supply the life that we have received.
Preaching the gospel is for the supply of life. Ministering the word is for the supply
of life. Visitation is for the supply of life, and serving in the church business office is
for the supply of life. Even ordinary things, such as sweeping and cleaning the
windows, are a means to supply life. Apparently, there are many items in the
church service, but spiritually, these many have one purpose, which is to supply
life.
Although the saints have heard the principles concerning service, I am
fellowshipping concerning this again because we need to consider our service. No
matter what our service may be, we should be clear that our service is a means to
supply life to others. The elders and the deacons must uphold this point.
Business life model: All the services in the church life, whether they are spiritual or
administrative, must minister life. Gospel preaching spiritual service needs to
minister life, but never think that cleaning does not need to minister life. With this
perspective, you can see that all the affairs in your business life is having the same
principle. It is necessary not only to utilize your spirit, set your mind on the spirit, but
also the same for your business affairs. In carrying out business, express Christ
largely by enjoying and experiencing Christ as your wisdom, motive force and so
forth. That way, you will grow in the Lord’s life, and your business be blessed.
②The operation of death within us, spoken of in 2 Corinthians 4:12, is the killing.
The operation of death is our being broken. The more we are broken, the more
the life of God will flow out of us.
A brother who is broken can supply life. We may understand this doctrinally, but
we still need to put it into practice. The Spirit of life abides in our spirit. However,
besides our human spirit, we also have a soul and a body. Our soul and body
encase our spirit. Therefore, in order for life to be released from our spirit, our soul
and body must be dealt with and broken. The body does not pose much of a
problem, but our soul poses a great problem. The things of the soul, which is
composed of our mind, emotion, and will, are difficult to deal with. The soul
surrounds and encases the spirit. Hence, our soul must be dealt with and broken
in order for our spirit to be released. Otherwise, there cannot be a pure flow of
the divine life.
Marriage life model: In order to have one heart, to love and support each other in
marriage life, God’s life must be enjoyed and flowed out. Because God’s life is in
your spirit, in order for life to flow out, the soul that surrounds the spirit must be
crushed. Your soul (mind, feeling, will) must be crushed after experiencing the cross.
In fact, marriage and business life will help to crush you and the life to flow out from
inside. Under God's arrangement, couples are different from each other for the
purpose of helping each other. If they are the same, they cannot help each other
even without conflict. However, if you do not enjoy Christ, “helper” will become
“obstructer” instead. Call the name of the Lord, persevere with the Lord,
experienced the Cross with sufficient awareness of God's arrangements, and deal
with the idea that your spouse is an "obstructer".
Also, due to the close relationship that the husband and wife are having, they
tend to become loose or behave selfishly. You should be careful not to become a
"chauvinistic husband" or a "henpecked husband". The will of God for you is to out
flow God’s life through the cross, and to build the body of Christ. It is the same for
the marriage life. In order for Husband and wife to have one heart, one mind and
moving towards the goal of fulfilling God's economy one step at a time, you must
experience the cross and have your soul dealt with. If you do it this way, you most
certainly will find a great blessing in your marriage. Amen.
③In the church life we do not live alone. Because the church is the Body, we live
with the fellow members of the Body. Since we are in the Body, we are members
with the other fellow members. Eternal life not only takes care of our own need; it
also takes care of the need of the fellow members around us. It overcomes death
within us, and it overcomes death within our brothers. Especially, it overcomes
death in those who are weak or who have problems.
We who have eternal life can pass this life on to others. This means that we can
be a channel through which eternal life is supplied to others. We can be a channel
for eternal life to flow out of us and into others.
School life model: In order to have a blessed school life, take the church life as your
secret. Interact openly with the young brothers and sisters who are experienced in
problems with human relations issues, academic problems, future occupations and
marriage problems. Christ’s body life is the best social life, in which God's life flows.
This God's life can overcome the death within you. Hallelujah!
218 その霊の豊満―充満
1. 血しおのきよめでよろこびあふれ，
いのちを受けしは，かわとなるため。
生けるみずながし，その霊を満たし，
かわきをうるおすうつわとなせや。
2. あまくゆたかなるたえなるすくい;
満ちたるこころで日々主あかしす。
生けるみずながしその霊を満たし，
ひとを主へと帰すうつわとなせや。
3. とうときうつわとわれつくり上げ，
めぐみといのちを満たしに満たせ。
生けるみずながし，その霊を満たし，
ひとの飢えいやすうつわとなせや。
4. 主よわれを占有し，なが霊を満たし，
あふれにあふれて，とわにいたれや。
生けるみずながし，その霊を満たし，
わきいであふれるうつわとなせや。
218 圣灵的丰满─充满
1. 我已得蒙宝血洗净，充满天上的喜乐；
我已得着永远生命，成为活水的运河。
我愿作主活水运河，充满生命的圣灵，
灌输生命，解人干渴，涌流活水无止境。
2. 奇妙救恩，甜美、丰盛，满足我心如我意；
我愿天天作此见证，吸引多人来归依。
我愿作主活水运河，充满生命的圣灵，
灌输生命，解人干渴，涌流活水无止境。
3. 主，你使我完全成圣，作你贵重的器皿，
充满恩典，充满生命，供应饥渴的人群。
我愿作主活水运河，充满生命的圣灵，
灌输生命，解人干渴，涌流活水无止境。
4. 将我倒空，将我充满，愿我全人你占有；
活水江河洋溢、泛滥，涌流生命到永久。
我愿作主活水运河，充满生命的圣灵，
灌输生命，解人干渴，涌流活水无止境。
268. Fullness of the Spirit - The Filling
1. 1How I praise Thee, precious Savior,
That Thy love laid hold of me;
Thou hast saved and cleansed and filled me,
That I might Thy channel be.
(chorus) Channels only, blessed Master,
But with all Thy wondrous grace,
Flowing through us, Thou canst use us
Every hour in every place.
2. Just a channel, full of blessing,
To the thirsty hearts around;
To tell out Thy full salvation,
All Thy loving message sound.
3. Emptied that Thou shouldest fill me,
A clean vessel in Thine hand;
With no strength but as Thou givest
Graciously with each command.
4. Witnessing Thy grace to save me,
Setting free from self and sin;
Thou hast bought me to possess me,
In Thy fulness, Lord, come in.
5. O Lord, fill now with Thy Spirit
Hearts that full surrender know;
That the streams of living water
From our inner man may flow.

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